


Obvious Questions

by Aaron_The_8th_Demon



Series: God Damn Apocalypse [8]
Category: Van Helsing (TV 2016)
Genre: Aftermath, Canon Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 10:36:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15993446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaron_The_8th_Demon/pseuds/Aaron_The_8th_Demon
Summary: They're in agreement - Axel's not allowed to die anymore.





	Obvious Questions

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like their conversation in E207 never got resolved, so here's a quiet moment of them talking about it.
> 
> Coincides with my other two, [The Feelings Of Living](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15965327) and [The Feelings Of Dying](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15959234). If you haven't read those two first, there's a couple lines of this story that might sound weird.

 

A little later, now that they’ve left his temporary grave, Axel can’t help asking the obvious question: why wouldn’t Vanessa bite him? Why had it come to him threatening his own life?

The answer is ugly, so much that Axel almost feels bad for making her do it. She’d been so afraid for him… he knew her daughter had died, but not like that. And after everything… after Dylan, and after Axel had stood by her for so long and through so much shit (even if she was still a little pissed about him reading her file and then lying about it), she couldn’t stomach the idea of accidentally killing him.

That makes Axel apologize for dying. He’s serious when he says it, too, it’s not a fucking joke. He tells her he tried so hard not to, but it just sort of happened without his permission. He doesn’t tell her that he was awake the whole time he was “dead.” He doesn’t think she’ll believe him.

But Vanessa just answers that he doesn’t have to be sorry, because even though he did something she didn’t want him to do, at least he’d been smart enough to stop doing it. That makes them both laugh a little, the idea that Axel had had any say in the whole fucking thing.

Then Vanessa says that the whole incident was weird. She’d felt like he was watching her the whole time… that it had been so strange.

So Axel goes back on his previous judgment call, and informs her that yes, he’d still been in there with her, feeling everything as they did what they could with their limited supplies. He admits he couldn’t really hear what they were saying, but he’d known they were talking. He says he remembers her kissing him.

Which asks the next obvious question: why did she kiss him?

Vanessa doesn’t know. He can tell that she’s not lying when she says it - she’s not sure. Only that it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. And why the hell is he so interested?

Axel grins: because you don’t do something like kiss a dead guy if you don’t mean it. And his previous offer still stands, of course. Would she like to kiss this dead guy a second time?

Vanessa punches him in the shoulder for that, but he laughs it off. It’s nothing compared to her bruising him on the way down for the horrific crime of wanting some damn sunlight.

Axel sort-of changes the subject, even if it’s still about his time as a bloodsucker: he forgave Doc. She didn’t mean to let that happen to him.

Vanessa’s not quite there yet. She says she never would’ve left him down there like that. She wishes she’d gone back down and gotten Axel out, so that he wouldn’t have spent so much time suffering. Because he’s a stubborn son of a bitch, and he reads people’s files without asking first, and did she mention he’s a stubborn son of a bitch? But he’s a good friend, and he’s a good man, and he didn’t deserve that. And so despite the aforementioned file reading and generally being - like she said - a stubborn son of a bitch, she does still trust him, even though he told her it was stupid back then.

Axel smiles. He thanks her for trusting him, and he’s sorry he hadn’t saved the file for her. He thinks a lot of shit had been blacked out, but he doesn’t remember so much anymore. Being undead fucked him up royal until all he knew was how pissed off getting left to die had made him. But that was over with now. End of discussion.

Vanessa now asks him a less obvious question: why does he always say that? Because sometimes, no matter how much he wants it to be, it can’t always be the end of the discussion.

Axel shrugs. It’s something his mother used to say, when he was being a shit. Once he’d become an NCO, he’d adopted the phrase to use against his subordinates. Because it’s less syllables than having to say, repeatedly, that someone needs to shut the fuck up or get punched.

Vanessa smiles, and he asks why. It’s not really that funny. She just tells him that only he could get turned into a god damn vampire and still be the same hard-headed jackass he’d been before getting bit. He tells her no, he’s a little different. He feels a little different, anyway.

Axel admits how he realized, as he was dying, that he needs to stick with her like he said. Now more than ever. Because she can take care of herself, hell, she kicks more ass than he does these days, but she shouldn’t have to do it alone. And that… he’s actually kind of honored that she trusts him. Because he has a hard fucking time trusting people, too, and he knows how important it is.

And then he quips that even if she doesn’t want to be friends with him, they can at least be battle-buddies, right? Everyone’s supposed to have a battle-buddy out in the field. Vanessa doesn’t know what that is, so she says that yes, he can be her friend. He doesn’t tell her so, but that makes him feel even more honored. Instead he just thanks her, not just for being his friend, but again because she saved him. He’d been in so much pain he couldn’t see sometimes.

Vanessa just hugs him for the second time that day, and he lets her. He hugs back just as tight. It’s good for morale.

When she lets go, she says that since he’s all about orders, she’ll give him one now: he’s not allowed to die. Ever. Again. Because if he does, then she’ll raise him from the dead just so she can kill him herself for putting her through it. Axel laughs and agrees, just as long as she doesn’t football-tackle him anymore, because contrary to popular belief that actually did hurt.

And they’re in agreement. No more dying, and they can trust each other and call each other friend. End of discussion.

**Author's Note:**

> I so wish these two are a couple on the show. They would be such a badass (and also endearing) vampire-slaying pair.
> 
> Please leave comments/kudos.
> 
> If you enjoyed this work, please feel free to check out my original WIP, [Nucleus](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10027367).


End file.
